Unsung: The Jets Had Billboard Hits and Came Home To A Rental. Where Did The Money Go?

[@nehsangbong7259]

Elizabeth had beautiful vocals.

[@alfonsogreen2722]

She also looked very mature at that young age

[@nehsangbong7259]

@@alfonsogreen2722 yep. She did.

[@bellashakaariimelendez3777]

@@alfonsogreen2722 yep but face was 12-13 girl excluding make up, & clothing was age-appropriate & all middle- mage now, just wrong how it suddenly ended, after literally having “ multi top 100 & multi top 10 and top 5 hits. Mgr. Don Powell smh So messed up. Should’ve went way farther with making hit into their 20’s throughout Middle-age .” Adios…”

[@nehsangbong7259]

Of course the coward would decline. He took advantage of these kids. 😠

[@COO415]

@Neh-Bih Sangbong. No sir, he is a sniveling cheat and a crook, Trump would be proud.

[@DMS-pq8]

@@COO415 I guess you forgot all the money the Clinton's stole from Haitian earthquake victims

[@donpowell6862]

I declined because I knew they were doing a hit job on me. Their financial situation was entirely on them.

[@cooler7762]

@@donpowell6862 why didn't you accept the interview request and explain that then🙄?!

[@dblok4863]

The record industry are full of pimps and snakes💯

[@ntwadumela374]

This is so sad to hear. I absolutely love the jets. I pray their story gets a happy ending!

[@BiancaMH]

Ugh, I want to see the entire episode!

[@shamondavis406]

You can go to TVOneOnline.com to watch the full episode..Love The Jets!!

[@jamesrivera8743]

I love the Jets! I love how they are a large family, their dance moves are awesome and their beautiful singing voices. It's a shame that their manager cheated them out of their fortune. Not fair. ☹️❤️ The✈️s! 🏳️‍🌈

[@tondataylor9250]

Loved them

[@madbug1965]

Sounds a lot like New Edition.

[@RocStarr913]

New Edition and The Jets were labelmates.

[@jakelane5567]

I'm a fan too, especially liked their ballads. Who knows what the actual truth is, but regarding the money, only their first album went platinum (sales went downhill from there). It's typical for music acts to need to prove themselves w/ longevity and demand with record sales to command major recording contracts. Also, it obviously didn't help that there were so many band/family members. They probably weren't headliners selling out arenas in their prime. Nevertheless, I'm an 80s kid and still enjoy their music, never gets old. The lead vocalist has great pipes.

[@jimmbear3998]

I feel bad for them as they were a big young family/group so by the time agents, managers, promoters, and record companies took their cut and paid for expenses not much left to divide between the large group. Also, I was a teen in the 1980’s in CA and they weren’t big in CA for some reason and not big on MTV. I watched MTV all day long and listened to KROQ and other popular radio stations in CA and they were not really played in CA or that much on MTV from what I remembered at least despite having hit songs. It seems like they were much bigger in the Midwest but unfortunately back in the 1980’s you needed to be really big on MTV and in California to make big money back then.

[@RaKenobi]

Common story from those days. Artists didn't know the business.

[@daniellejudithjj]

😮Im so sorry to hear. They were truly an awesome group😘

[@jagguy1225]

It's the same story over and over and over again. It takes true sociopaths and psychopaths to do what these people do to people with real talent. I hope there's a special room in hell put aside for them, maybe a place where one horrible song is played over and over and over again.

[@michaelknight5090]

Crooked white dude ripped them off, so many kids was getting ripped off in the 80s , new edition, new kids on the block,salt n pepa, and a host of others.

[@RocStarr913]

New Edition, New Kids On The Block and Salt ‘N Pepa’s managers were black though. New Edition’s first manager was the same as New Kids’

[@elizabethvalenzuela4425]

He took their money. Why does that always happen?!

[@RocStarr913]

Because a lot of the times the performers don’t really understand the business they are in and how much the percentages don’t usually go in their favor.

[@yaksak2706]

Did the manager do anything illegal? Did they ever get any of this money back? Was this a case of "not reading the fine print?" It would be interesting to see how much money was siphoned. Don Powell declining to be interviewed pretty much answered a lot of these questions.

[@edwardbliss8931]

Suddenly I have a craving for KFC.

[@rspen2142]

Another group that was talented yet ignorant of the business.

[@DP-pj7qn]

Very sad they cant just get it together for a reunion tour- make shitloads of money that they deserved back then and find a way to capitalize with their fan's of yesterday and today

[@nileswillis7992]

Happens to many bands. Badfinger being the case study.

[@anitaa2695]

💜

[@a.k.a.theruggedmanchild9685]

dats da darkside of da bizness y'all!

[@roachqueen1973]

The Jets were the -ish.

[@jaeeproductions]

This is just vulgar. This should never happen to any artists. To all artists, read music law books and get a good entertainment attorney. Know your rights, and what a proper contract should look like...and what clauses it should include to protect you.

[@patrickdouglas3523]

The Jets were the s#$t!

[@donpowell6862]

What happened to the money??? There were 15 kids in the family. They spent it!

[@sumpthintosay6341]

Bad management; happens a lot, especially if the people aren't financially savvy

[@donpowell6862]

@@sumpthintosay6341, I am one of the top 10 artist managers in the world. Everything I tried to do to educate them financially their parent's rejected. They were minors. My hands were tied.

[@nicolestewart2274]

Why not accept the interview request and explain that than??? There should have been enough for them to at least be able to purchase a family home.

[@michaeldomingo5234]

Don powell milk them

[@laminage]

What he did has been going on since the beginning of time. Thomas Tam Paton (Pronouncd Payton) robbed The Bay City Rollers who were at their peak from 1975-1979. Lou Pearlman fleeced The Backstreet Boys & N'Sync as well. Les McKeown all but drank himself to death, had issues of being violated, and even when he confronted Tam about what he did, he lied and denied. The man was so scared he had cages and dogs to protect himself. Tam is dead as well. Also if they didn't create a Publishing House when they wrote or co wrote a song, they come out of it with nothing. They paid the high price of being too trusting.